“The problem of them being called legal highs is it gives the
wrong impression to everybody. These are things that will do you
great damage and, in extreme circumstances, somebody can die as a
result of taking them,” she said in April.

“Obviously we would need to look at the exact legislation but
introducing a blanket ban on legal highs is the principle we are
working on,” she added.

However a recent EU public opinion poll throws into question the
effectiveness of such a blanket ban.

The Eurobarometer survey shows the highest level of legal high
use among young people in the last 12 months was in Ireland, a
country where the substances have been banned since 2010.

EMCDDA say the underground market is capable of adapting to
government restrictions.

Paul Griffiths, the EU drug agency’s scientific director, told
The Guardian that “cryptomarkets” or “deep web”
marketplaces that can only be accessed via encryption software
pose a major challenge to law enforcement.

“These allow goods and services to be exchanged between
parties anonymously. Evidence is now emerging of so-called gray
marketplaces – online sites selling new psychoactive substances
which operate on both the surface and the deep web,” says
EMCDDA’s annual report.

“The deep web is part of the internet that is not accessible
using standard search engines. There, drug sales can take place
within marketplaces, within decentralized networks and between
individuals,” it added.